Reversible seat belt tensioner

ABSTRACT

A reversible seat belt tensioner includes an electric motor ( 2 ), a belt shaft ( 1 ) drivable in the belt winding direction by the electric motor ( 2 ) via a drive wheel ( 10 ), and a drive shaft ( 9 ) transmitting the rotational movement of the electric motor ( 2 ) to the drive wheel ( 10 ). The drive shaft ( 9 ) is connected to at least one of the drive wheel ( 10 ) and the electric motor ( 2 ) via a helical gear unit. The teeth of the helical gear unit make point-shaped contacts with each other, and the drive shaft ( 9 ) is axially movable relative to the electric motor ( 2 ) or the drive wheel ( 10 ) without disengaging the gear teeth.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/060,480, entitled “REVERSIBLE SEAT BELT TENSIONER,” which claimspriority to German Patent Application 10 2008 048 339.7, filed Sep. 22,2008, and International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2009/006287, filedAug. 31, 2009.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a reversible seat belt tensioner comprising anelectric motor, a belt shaft drivable in the belt winding direction bythe electric motor via a drive wheel, and a drive shaft transmitting therotational movement of the electric motor to the drive wheel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

From WO 2003/099619 A2, a reversible seat belt tensioner is knownwherein the drive shaft transmitting the rotational movement of theelectric motor to the belt shaft is coupled to the electric motor via acrown gear unit and is coupled to the drive wheel via a worm gear unit.

A disadvantage in this embodiment is that the arrangement of thecomponents with respect to each other cannot be freely chosen, as thegear wheels of the gear units deflect the rotational movement by 90degrees each, and, therefore, the rotational axes of the meshingrotating components have to be arranged at an angle of 90 degrees withrespect to each other. It has further turned out that the noisesdeveloping in the crown gear unit and in the worm gear unit during theseat belt tensioning, in particular for vehicles of the higher qualityclass, are no longer tolerated by the vehicle manufacturers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide a reversible seat belttensioner wherein the electric motor, the belt shaft with the drivewheel and the drive shaft can even be arranged in different orientationswith respect to each other so that the reversible seat belt tensionercan have an overall more compact configuration and can even be arrangedin cramped installation spaces. Moreover, the noises developing duringthe belt tensioning shall be reduced.

The solution of the object according to the invention is that the driveshaft is connected to the drive wheel and/or to the electric motor via ahelical gear unit. The use of a helical gear unit provides the advantagethat the rotational axes of the meshing components can also be arrangedat angles not equal to 90 degrees with respect to each other. Thereby,the components can be arranged at any angle with respect to each otherso that the arrangement can be carried out in the sense of a compactconfiguration and utilization of the available free spaces. As thecomponents in the helical gear units only come into punctiform contact,in addition, the noise development is substantially reduced. Helicalgear units are generally distinctly known for the fact that helicalgears with different helix angles but an equal pitch and the sameengagement angle are coupled. The axles can thereby cross at any angleowing to different helix angles. Furthermore, a helical gear unitprovides the advantage that the helical gears, in addition to thediameter ratios, by means of the choice of the helix angles provide anadditional possibility to change the transmission ratio. Moreover, thehelical gears of the helical gear unit can be displaced axially withoutthe helical gears losing engagement. Thereby, the production accuracyrequirements are substantially reduced so that the effort and the costsfor fulfilling the required production accuracy requirements aresubstantially reduced.

Further advantageous embodiments and developments of the invention aredescribed in the sub claims.

In the following, the invention is described in more detail based onpreferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a reversible seat belt tensioner according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a reversible seat belt tensioner with drive shaft;

FIG. 3 shows an electric motor with drive shaft and drive wheel;

FIG. 4 a-4 c show an electric motor with drive shaft and drive wheel atan angle greater than 90 degrees; and

FIG. 5 a-5 c show an electric motor with drive shaft and drive wheel atan angle smaller than 90 degrees.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a reversible seat belt tensioner comprising a seat beltretractor 1 and an electric motor 2 driving the seat belt retractor 1 inthe belt winding direction during the reversible tensioning. On the sideof the reversible seat belt tensioner, an electronic control unit 4(ECU) actuating the electric motor 2 is arranged. Furthermore, on thefront end of the seat belt retractor housing 5, a gear unit housing 3comprising a corresponding covering 6 is arranged in which gear unithousing the later described drive shaft along with the associated gearunits and the drive wheel for coupling the electric motor 2 to the beltshaft 1 is arranged.

FIG. 2 shows the same reversible seat belt tensioner from the gearunit-side, however without covering 6. Between the belt shaft 1 and theelectric motor 2 a drive shaft 9 engaging with a gearing 7 of a drivewheel 10 via a gearing 8 can be seen. The connection between theelectric motor 2 and the drive shaft 9 is not shown, but will bedescribed later on. The drive wheel 10 can further be connected to thebelt shaft 1 by a coupling not shown so that the rotational movement ofthe electric motor 2 during the belt tensioning is finally changed to abelt winding movement of the belt shaft 1 by rotating the drive shaft 9and driving the drive wheel 10.

FIG. 3 shows, for a better visibility, the electric motor 2 with thedrive shaft 9 and the drive wheel 10 from FIG. 2 without the belt shaft1. The electric motor 2 meshes with the drive shaft 9 via a gear unit“I”. The rotational movement of the drive shaft 9 is transmitted to thedrive wheel 10 via a second gear unit “II”. The drive shaft 9 isarranged between the axes “X” and “Z” of the drive wheel 10 and of theelectric motor 2 so that the electric motor 2 and the drive wheel 10engage on different sides of the drive shaft 9 with their gearings 12and 7 with the gearings 11 and 8 of the drive shaft 9. This results inan overall good force distribution in the drive shaft 9 and,additionally, the existent free spaces on the seat belt tensioner arefurther fully utilized so that the seat belt tensioner can be configuredin an even more compact manner.

Both the gear unit “I” and the gear unit “II” are formed by two meshinggearing pairs 11 and 12 and 7 and 8. Each of the gear units “I” and “II”is configured as a helical gear unit so that the gearings 12 and 11 and7 and 8 mesh in a screw-gliding manner. The screw-gliding meshingmovement of the helical gear unit provides the special advantage thatthe gearings 11, 12, 7 and 8 only rest against each other via apunctiform contact, and that, thereby, the noise development issubstantially reduced.

Furthermore, the gearings 11, 12, 7 and 8 even mesh, in case, theelectric motor 2, the drive shaft 9 and the drive wheel 10 do no longerexactly take their desired position owing to production inaccuracies oroperational abrasion. The gearings 11, 12, 7 and 8 are configured ashelical gearings whereas the helix angles of the gearings 11 and 12 and8 and 7 resting against each other are angled in the opposite direction.

FIGS. 4 a to 4 c show different arrangements of the electric motor 2, ofthe drive shaft 9 and of the drive wheel 10, wherein the angle “A”between the rotational axis “X” of the drive wheel 10 and the rotationalaxis “Y” of the drive shaft 9 is smaller than 90 degrees. The rotationalaxis “X” of the drive wheel 10, in this embodiment, is identical to therotational axis of the belt shaft so that the same can be mentally addedin the extension. In the position shown in FIG. 4 a, the electric motor2 with its rotational axis “Z” is entangled to an angle “B” bigger than90 degrees in relation to the rotational axis “Y” of the drive shaft 9so that the rotational axes “Z” and “X” also form an angle with respectto each other which, in the extreme case, can even be extended up to 90degrees by choosing the angles “A” and “B” accordingly. The angles “A”and “B” can be changed by the dimensioning of the helix angles of thegearings 11, 12, 8 and 7.

Relating to the dimensioning of the helix angles and the orientation ofthe axes resulting therefrom, it is referred to pertinent technicalliterature as for example “Maschinenelemente” Roloff/Matek; ViewegVerlag 2007, Wiesbaden, 18th Edition, Chapter 23. The orientation of theelectric motor 2 in relation to the belt shaft, due to the invention,can be chosen such that the available installation space in the vehicleand/or the free space on the reversible seat belt tensioner can bebetter utilized so that an overall compact configuration of the seatbelt tensioner can be realized and/or the seat belt tensioner can beadapted to the determined installation space ratios in the vehicle.

FIGS. 4 b and 4 c show further alternative allocations at the same angle“A”. In FIG. 4 b, the angle “B” is chosen equal to 90 degrees so that,here, even a worm gear unit could be chosen for the gear unit “I”. InFIG. 4 c, the angle “B” is chosen equal to the angle “A”, additionallyresulting in a parallel arrangement of the rotational axes “X” and “Z”.Owing to the helix angle of the helical gear units, the gear units “I”and “II”, and, thereby, also the electric motor 2 and the belt shaft,can be arranged in an axial offset “a” with respect to each other,whereas the axial offset “a” can also be affected by the choice of thehelix angles. The offset “a” is preferably arranged in the direction ofthe belt shaft not shown so that even a shorter electric motor 2 can bearranged in the center next to a longer belt shaft for example betweenthe frame pieces of the seat belt retractor fully utilizing the freespace existent between the frame pieces.

FIGS. 5 a to 5 c show further alternative arrangements with an angle “A”bigger than 90 degrees between the rotational axes “X” and “Y”. In FIG.5 a, both the angle “A” and the angle “B” are chosen bigger than 90degrees resulting in an offset “b” of the gear units “I” and “II”, incomparison to the embodiment described in FIG. 4 c, now in the otherdirection. Choosing identical angles “A” and “B” would again result in aparallel arrangement of the electric motor 2 and the seat belt retractororiented in the direction of the axis “X”. FIG. 5 b shows an embodimentwherein the angle “B” is again chosen equal to 90 degrees so that, here,also a combination of the gearings 11 and 12 as a worm gear unit wouldbe possible. FIG. 5 c shows an embodiment wherein the angle “B” ischosen smaller than 90 degrees so that the angle between the axes “X”and “Z” is further increased.

What is claimed is:
 1. A reversible seat belt tensioner comprising: anelectric motor generating a rotational movement, a belt shaft drivablein a belt winding direction by the electric motor via a drive wheel, anda drive shaft transmitting the rotational movement of the electric motorto the drive wheel, wherein the drive shaft is connected via a helicalgear unit to at least one of the drive wheel and the electric motor, thehelical gear unit having helical gears with gear teeth and allowing anaxial movement of the drive shaft relative to the at least one of thedrive wheel and the electric motor without disengaging the helicalgears, the teeth of the helical gears making point-shaped contacts witheach other.
 2. The reversible seat belt tensioner according to claim 1,wherein the axes of rotation of the drive shaft and of the electricmotor are arranged at a first angle with respect to each other and theaxes of rotation of the drive shaft and the drive wheel are arranged ata second angle with respect to each other and wherein the first andsecond angles are identical, and wherein the axes of the electric motorand of the drive wheel are arranged parallel to each other.
 3. Thereversible seat belt tensioner according to claim 1, wherein the driveshaft is connected to the electric motor and the drive wheel via arespective helical gear unit, and wherein the gear units on the driveshaft are arranged axially offset with respect to each other.
 4. Thereversible seat belt tensioner according to claim 1, wherein the driveshaft is arranged between the axes of rotation of the electric motor andof the drive wheel.
 5. The reversible seat belt tensioner of claim 1,wherein the electric motor generates a rotational movement of a motorshaft with a first helical gear, the belt shaft is drivable in a beltwinding direction by the electric motor via the drive wheel with asecond helical gear with a larger diameter than the first helical gear,wherein the drive shaft transmitting the rotational movement of theelectric motor to the drive wheel has a third helical gear meshing withthe first helical gear, and the drive shaft further has a fourth helicalgear axially offset from the third helical gear and meshing with thesecond helical gear, wherein the motor has a first axis of rotation, thedrive shaft has a second axis of rotation, and the drive wheel has athird axis of rotation, the first and third axes of rotation beingparallel to each other and the second axis of rotation intersecting witha plane containing the first and third axis of rotation between thefirst and the third axis of rotation.
 6. The reversible seat belttensioner according to claim 1, wherein the drive shaft and each of theat least one part have an axis of rotation, and the axes of rotation arearranged with respect to each other at angles that are acute or obtuse.